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Current Channel Tunnel traffic only runs at about 54 per cent of total capacity but the company has the rights to build any second crossing until 2086.

Eurotunnel corporate affairs director John Keefe said it would be 'decades' before the extra capacity was needed, but fluctuating growth rates and changes in technology made it difficult to be more precise.

He said: 'It's certainly right to be thinking about it and it's something we consider on a regular basis.

Boris Johnson raised the prospect of building a bridge or road tunnel between Britain and France during yesterday's crunch summit with Emmanuel Macron

'We look at the forecasts and we look at where we see traffic growth going and when we have got a stable period ahead of us then we can plan and predict.'

He added: 'It's a very interesting idea. We want to be involved if it gets developed, as it gets developed, but we think there is still a bit of growth to do first before it becomes necessary.

'If the economic, political and financial conditions were all favourable we would have first dibs on whether to do it or not.